Get the Driver Assistance Package for the Rearview Camera - 2015 Audi A3 Long-Term Road Test

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Get the Driver Assistance Package for the Rearview Camera - 2015 Audi A3 Long-Term Road Test

The 2015 Audi A3 doesn't come standard with a rearview camera. You have to order the Driver Assistance package to get one or go up to the top-shelf Prestige trim level.

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7driver

Interesting. The GTI has the camera standard on the mid-trim and top-trim. The driver's assistance package on the GTI only adds parking sensors. I guess VW/Audi feels it can get away with nickel-and-diming luxury buyers that it can't with mainstream buyers.

ebeaudoin

This astounds me. The cheapest Honda (2015 Fit LX 6MT) comes standard with a reverse camera at $16,470. Every 2015 Honda has a standard reverse camera. The fact that a car that costs 2.5 times as much as the Fit LX 6MT doesn't have one standard is crazy.

/rant

kirkhilles1

I will NEVER buy a new (or newer) vehicle without a reverse camera again after having it on our Pilot. As ebeaudoin mentions, if its standard on a $16k Fit, it should be standard everywhere. I miss it when backing up a vehicle without it.

yellowbal

Backup cameras will be standard but the luxury brands like to rip people off as long as they can get away with it. Similar to how some mid-high end hotels charge for WiFi.

chol92594

ebeaudoin said:

This astounds me. The cheapest Honda (2015 Fit LX 6MT) comes standard with a reverse camera at $16,470. Every 2015 Honda has a standard reverse camera. The fact that a car that costs 2.5 times as much as the Fit LX 6MT doesn't have one standard is crazy.

/rant

Exactly what I was thinking as I was reading this. Backup cameras are becoming nearly ubiquitous, probably because they'll be required on all new US cars starting in 2018. Most manufacturers probably figure that they might as well get a head start on implementing them. The actual equipment costs can't be that high, especially when you consider that more and more cars are equipped with display screens, even if they don't have navigation. All that's really needed in such a case is a camera, applicable wiring/connections, and whatever software is needed to display the camera feed, trajectory lines, etc. It absolutely perplexes me that Audi didn't just throw in a rearview camera.

schen72

Especially in countries where it's the norm to back up into parking spaces, a backup camera makes it so easy.

allthingshonda

yellowbal said:

Backup cameras will be standard but the luxury brands like to rip people off as long as they can get away with it. Similar to how some mid-high end hotels charge for WiFi.

So true. Luxury brands are a large waste of money new. They depreciate a ton as soon as you drive it off the lot and you pay extra for features you can get standard on cars that cost far less. You would think that the standard equipment of a Cadillac would begin where a Chevy tops out at. But that's not the case.

lmbvette

Take a look at the option sheet at BMW for the biggest offender.